My football reverie

It has been more than ten years since I started following and worshiping the beautiful game. It's hard to fathom, but literally speaking, I have spent more than half of my life on earth with football. Whether I could've done better things or worse things than that in all these years is open to jury, but it's been a journey which has defined me so far in my two decade-long stay on earth.



Growing up in a cricket-crazy country like India, I too grew up a cricket addict and still manage to follow matches involving India at the most, but for me it has always been football since I managed to catch glimpses of the 2002 World Cup. Gradually, I grew up with like-minded friends at school and soon football was to become an important part of me and my fledgling life. And now with more than a decade-long experience of watching and following the sport, I can truly say that football has become something of a religion for me.

Those days of Ronaldos, Rivaldos, Zidanes, Del Pieros, Seamans, Figos, Henrys were too awesome, wish I could go back in time to see them in action again, at their peak, dominating and bossing games, for one last time. Those days, without so much money around, had something divine about it, compared to today's overpaid and average footballers. Those were the times of unadulterated football experience, and football was less a commercial entity and more a sporting event. 

Today, with the emergence of social media, the likes of Twitters and Facebooks have brought another dimension to the sport. Transfer windows were offered limited coverage earlier, with news of signings only filling tabloids after official confirmation. But nowadays it's a festival, with various sources working 24x7 to make rumors seem like gospel truths. And these spread faster than wildfires, often prompting club officials to open their mouths in public. Like the proverbial 'too many cooks spoil the broth', it feels as if too many things has made the beautiful game somewhat murkier.

Bale and his 'heart' celebration

The big investments by affluent consortia, buying away clubs and shifting the power balance with money and more and more clubs being pushed to the brink due to financial strains, something we did not see or anticipate a few years ago. Football has become something of a business, not that it wasn't before, but too much effort is being put into money making or earning these days. For example, the licensing of his trademark 'heart' celebration by Gareth Bale shows how players nowadays are pocketing huge sums using their image, something we could never have imagined Zidane doing. 

Of course evolution is necessary, and with the changing times, football too has learnt to change and adapt. A 50 million transfer seems the norm, and no longer do we see fairy tales like Porto's Champions League win in 2004. It's all not written in the stars, success can be bought these days as shown so eloquently by Chelsea and Manchester City. Young stars seldom develop at their parent clubs these days as they are poached at the slightest indication and instigation by bigger and wealthier clubs. Football now has embraced technology after years of aversion. Goal-line technology is already on the way to making its first World Cup appearance next year. Ticket prices at stadiums have increased exponentially, much to the fury of those season ticket holders, which shows how the game has become a money business.

Trolls and memes, order of the day

Those things I mentioned above haven't affected me directly in any way, as such a playing field to come to Indian shores would take another millennium at least, but as a lover of the beautiful game, a throwback to the years bygone is something I really yearn. With all the chaos and unnecessary buzz, the emergence of lame stuffs in social media, the likes of trolls and memes have spoilt the new generation of football fans. Now I wonder how lucky I was to grow up watching football in those Sportstar-days devoid of such nonsensical and trivial stuffs. Nowadays among the so-called newbies, game watching is of lesser importance than sharing and liking those nigh on stupid stuffs.

As all things in life, football too has undergone changes, some very obvious and some which nobody had ever expected. Like it or not, these changes have broadened football's horizons. For example India, like many other countries, has overseen a huge rise in football following, as evidenced by the broadcast of almost all international competitions, even the age group tournaments. This is only a good thing for the so-called game of the masses. Football unites the world, and the world unites with football.

"If your studies are getting in the way of your football, then you're studying too much"-NENEM PRANCHA